An outcome of fate and hope.

The tale of Scarlet.

The town of Soft Acre's, a small town next to a giant forest that has many rumours surrounding it. For a small town, it had become very packed due to the many rumours that surrounded the area. However tourists would only visit occasionally since the town doesn't change much and it had become forbidden to enter the forest due to what people have claimed to have seen in there. 

The only person who actually made it back with something was a woman. She has a light complexion with a healthy figure, whenever she walked past you could see her blonde hair sway in the breeze along with sunny yellow dress, she always seemed to wear that with sandles for some reason, people always questioned her fashion choises. She was married a long time ago but her husband left for a buisness trip and wasn't seen again since that day, so she had to raise two sons on her own. Most people knew her as Scarlet, a woman who has been dependant on her own for so long.

Today was another crowded day, as the tourists have decided to visit the down to celebrate the founding of the town, they were still suprised it was there considering the rumours of magic in the area, which lead many scientists to be desprate to enter the forest, however their greed got the best of them and they were never seen again. 

Scarlet tried her best to make her way through the crowded streets, being careful not to bump into anyone along the way, she saw a small ally way that seemed to have less people walking down it, she followed through many small ally ways, until she made it into a more quiet area with a few old homes and one convience store. 

As Scarlet walked up to the store, she noticed two men standing out the store, she isn't exactly suprised as she has heard about them in the area for their bad reputation, however she was more concerned as to why they were there, trying her best to avoid eye contact with them, she rushed past them into the store and looked around frantically as if looking something. As she sprinted through the iles, she suddenly bumped into someone's apron, causing her to trip backwards, but she stops herself from falling, when she suddenly hears a thump.

"Owwwieee, Scarlet why did you do that? You meanie." A female voice said playfully. Scarlet looked down at the ground at the black haired woman with a blue dress and a white apron on, her brown eyes looked at her, gleaming as if she was going to cry.

"Please stop making that face Angie, you're embarrasing me, now come on get up." Scarlet said coldly to the woman on the floor, who we can assume is Angie. She gave a quick laugh before getting up.

"So what's up? You looked worried." Angie asked. Scarlet looked around the room carefully then leaned towards Angie pointing towards the window descretly, Angie looks over to the two men and looks back quickly. 

"So? They are just frequent customers, you need to loosen up a bit Scar." She says in a carefree mannor. Scarlet sighs and holds Angie's hands.

"Angie, I thought we talked about this, you shouldn't let people like that in here, what if they take advantage of you..." Scarlet said worried.

"I know, I know. I've just been struggling with sales lately and you know how lonely I get... Anyway, would you like the usual?" Angie asks her, picking up a bag from the floor and handing it to her.

"Yes, thankyou, just be careful alright, I should really get going home to the boys." Scarlet says, paying Angie then picking up the bag, Angie thanks Scarlet and she leaves the store, heading back towards the main street and back through the various crowds.

A while later she grabs some jangling keys from her coat pocket and opens the door, she then picks up her bags she left down by the door and closes the door behind her saying "I'm home!" In a sweet manor. After hearing a couple of light taps a small boy slides towards her, trying to stop himself from falling and another one bumps into him but they both go running into her embrace. 

"Mommy!" They both shouted excited with excited smiles on their faces.

"Hello my boys, how did everything go at school today?" She ruffled one of the boy's dark black hair while he smiled and the other one let go jumping up and down hyperactively. 

"It was soooo great Mommy, we got to go see fishes and we got to play and we made new friends!" The blue haired boy explained, still jumping up and down while the other one nods in agreement.

 "That's great you two, now go play while Mommy makes you dinner ok?" She giggles playfully while the two boys nod then rush off into another room.

After a long time of playing the Blue haired boy flops to the ground groaning. "Derick I'm borrreeed, why is it taking mommy so long? You should know since you're the oldest!" Derick looked concerned and smells the air, he thought to himself, 'it smells like burning... Is she ok?" Derick then looked at his younger brother and smiled. "Don't worry Lucas, I'll go check!" He then rushed off to the kitchen only to see his mother trying to waft away smoke from a burnt meal. 

"Mom are you ok? You usually never burn meals like this... Did something happen?" She stayed silent then turned to face Derick, kneeling down to his level. 

"Derick... You have to promise to be brave... Your father died... Due to him no longer being able to work, I'm afraid we have to move, but there is something about the place that you need to know and your brother can't... There's a cursed forest nearby that has something very powerful and I can't be here for you forever... I know it's a lot to take in but please understand it's for his greater good that he cannot know about it." Derick smiled and hugged his mother.

"I'll make sure of it and if anything does ever happen... I'll be sure to take care of him." She smiled with tears in her eyes.

"Thank you Derick... I know that your very brave and will take care of him."

Everything turned out to be back to normal after a few days, however Derick still felt a bit of guilt, he knew his brother wasn't old enough to understand or know how to deal with that kind of grief. He was currently at a school on a break with his brother. After passing the ball to another child, Lucas waddled over to Derick.

"Hey bro, are you ok? You've been sat here for a while now, the teacher has been telling me that you haven't been focused in class after that incident where mom burnt dinner... I've been wondering... Could it be your hiding something from me?" Derick looked up at Lucas shocked.

"N-no! Everything is fine, honestly, I've just been a bit tired." Lucas furrowed his eyes at Derick then puffed his cheeks out and pouted.

"Fine! I believe you, but if I find out your lying, you're going to pay! Just because I'm younger, doesn't mean I won't understand! I hate that your always the favourite! I'm going home early!" Lucas stormed off as Derick sighed, hopefully his mother would try to calm him down when he gets back. He understood Lucas is smart, however he keeps getting into trouble and causes a few issues here and there, but nether the less, he was his brother and he loved him that way. He smiled as he went back to play with the other kids as the sun started going down.